Kucherov and the Point

Power Rankings Week 19

Michael Finewax's Power Rankings have the Sharks moving up to second after a big week as well as the Blues making a big move

The evening got off to a terrible start when it was announced that Connor McDavid would miss Monday’s game with an illness. Every time you get to see the best player in the world play, it is a treat and I for one was really looking forward to the game against Dallas.

The Philadelphia Flyers announced that they have filled the vacancy of General Manager by hiring Chuck Fletcher for the job as well as naming him Executive Vice President. Fletcher formerly was the GM of the Minnesota Wild. Hopefully, he will get the goaltending needed from someone (maybe Michal Neuvirth or Brian Elliott and then hope that Carter Hart will be ready next season).

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It was a big night for the Lightning’s big guns as Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists while Brayden Point had a goal (his 20th) and two helpers to lead Tampa Bay to a 5-1 road win over the New Jersey Devils.

Kucherov extended his points streak to 10 games (he has 24 points during the streak) and is only three points out of the NHL lead held by Mikko Rantanen who has 45 points. Point is fifth overall in the NHL with 37 points as he passed Connor McDavid on Monday.

Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist in the win as he is up to nine goals and 25 points after a very slow start to the season which saw him garner a goal and five points in his first 10 games. He has 10 points in his last nine contests and that is more like the Stamkos we know.

Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde also scored for Tampa Bay.

Louis Domingue won his 11th of the season and sixth in his last seven games as he has more than adequately replaced the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy in the Tampa Bay net.

Egor Yakovlev scored his first NHL goal of his career to break up the shutout bid of Domingue.

Keith Kinkaid got the start for New Jersey but was chased from the net after two periods as he gave up four goals on 20 shots. Cory Schneider gave up a power play goal to Stamkos as the Lightning had six shots in the third stanza.

Ryan McDonagh had two assists in the win.

NASHVILLE 2 BUFFALO 1

After a 10-game winning streak, the Buffalo Sabres have come back down to earth as they dropped their third straight, losing to Nashville 2-1 Monday.

Ryan Ellis got things started with the only goal of the opening period when he scored his second of the season. Ellis was expected to have a great season after scoring nine goals and 32 points in only 44 games last season, but he has struggled in 2018 and it was only his 13th point of the season.

Sam Reinhart tied the game at 1 in the second with his seventh of the season. He was credited with the goal when Nashville’s Roman Josi put the puck into his own net with Reinhart being the last player to touch the puck on the Sabres side.

The winner was scored by Kevin Fiala on a wrist shot that got past Carter Hutton. It was his fifth of the season but he has been coming on of late as he has three goals in his last four contests.

Pekka Rinne stopped 21 shots for his 12th win of the season while Carter Hutton stopped 23 shots in taking the loss.

Jack Eichel had six shots on net while Roman Josi had five.

DALLAS 4 EDMONTON 1

Brett Ritchie’s first goal of the season was the winner as the Dallas Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-1. As mentioned earlier, the Oilers were missing Connor McDavid.

Anton Khudobin was sharp in the Dallas cage as he turned aside 28 shots for the win as he went to 6-5-2 this season.

Mikko Koskinen made 21 saves on 24 shots to take the loss and he saw his record go to 8-3-1 this season.

Jason Dickinson, Jamie Benn and Esa Lindell also scored for Dallas while Jujhar Khaira with is first of the season, replied for Edmonton.

The Oilers trailed only 1-0 heading into the third period but the early goal by Ritchie, who also picked up an assist, followed by Benn’s power play effort, put the game away.

Mattias Janmark had a pair of assists for Dallas.

Zack Kassian had 12 penalty minutes including a misconduct for abuse of officials. Darnell Nurse and Devin Shore fought each other and got five for fighting.

Notes: Tyler Bertuzzi will miss the next two games as he was suspended by the NHL for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct against Matt Calvert of the Avalanche Sunday… Vincent Trocheck had successful surgery to repair a fractured ankle but it is not known when he will be able to return this season. It will be long-term…Ilya Kovalchuk is out at least four weeks after undergoing an ankle bursectomy procedure. He was placed on the injured reserve list…Alex Pietrangelo may need surgery on his hand. He injured it on the weekend and a decision will likely be made around Christmas so expect him to be out a while…Alexander Steen suffered a concussion Friday…It was not a great weekend for the Blues as Robby Fabbri was also put on the injured reserve list with a separated shoulder suffered on Saturday…The Maple Leafs and Canucks made a deal on Monday as Josh Leivo was sent to Vancouver in exchange for minor leaguer Michael Carcone. Leivo has a chance to be a top-nine forward in Vancouver, if not a top-six…The Pittsburgh Penguins gave up on Daniel Sprong and sent him to Anaheim in exchange for defenseman Marcus Pettersson. The deal could work out for both teams as the Penguins need a blueliner and the Ducks need some scoring up front as they have the second-worst offense in the NHL…Brendan Leipsic was claimed off waivers from Vancouver by the Los Angeles Kings…The three stars of the week were Mark Scheifele, Adin Hill and Jonathan Huberdeau.